Our EVCA member, Juan Falcon, from CICbioGUNE, participated in the 2^nd Euskadi Symposium on Extracellular Vesicles (EusEV-2024), held at Bizkaia Aretoa in Bilbao. Organized by researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and Nursing at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), in collaboration with CICbioGUNE-BRTA, the event brought together Basque research groups to explore the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in diagnostics and therapies.

We are proud to announce that EVCA member Estefania Torrejón recently participated in the Annual Meeting of Peruvian Scientists in Europe, Sinapsis 2024, held from July 18-20 in Düsseldorf, Germany. During the event, Estefania presented her groundbreaking research titled "Gut Derived Extracellular Vesicles Interacting with Kupffer Cells: An Alternative Route for Lipid Transport and Deposition in the Liver." Her work sheds new light on the intricate mechanisms of lipid transport and offers potential insights into innovative treatments. The Annual Meeting of Peruvian Scientists in Europe serves as a vital platform for networking, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas among Peruvian scientists working across the continent. Congratulations to Estefania on her successful presentation and ongoing contributions to the field of extracellular vesicle research.

The team of researchers led by Claudia Santos, an EVCA member, has achieved a significant breakthrough by discovering a new method to combat neuroinflammation associated with Parkinson's disease. Recently, Claudia gave an interview to CNN where she detailed the nature of the discovery and the next steps in their research. She emphasizes that, although there is currently no cure for the disease, this discovery could help slow down the degenerative process associated with it. For more information, see the news here.

Two innovative projects led by EVCA researchers received Honorable Mentions at the Bluepharma Innovation Award 2023, held on June 11^th at the University of Coimbra. The project “Novel Approaches to Skin Pigmentation Modulation” by Miguel Seabra and Duarte Barral, introduces a novel strategy for modulating skin pigmentation by targeting melanin secretion, promising significant advancements in skincare and dermatology. The second project, “Exploring the Antibacterial Properties of a Surfactant Based Hydrogel” led by Otília Vieira and João Conde, presents a hydrogel highly effective against Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacteria causing Gonorrhea, offering potential as a new antimicrobial topical treatment. These recognitions highlight the exceptional scientific contributions and technological potential of NMS research. Congratulations!

Estefania has won an EMBO scientific exchange grant to develop a three-month project at the Marseille Medical Genetics (MMG) - Aix Marseille Université in Marseille, France focusing on  the study of extracellular vesicles-mediated long-distance cell-to-cell communication. As of this month, June, she has already started activities in her host lab,  the Systems Biomedicine team led by Dr. Anaïs Baudot.

Her project aims to investigate the role of gut-derived extracellular vesicles in modulating gut-liver communication in prediabetes using a systems biology approach. She will construct a multimodal interaction network that integrate in-house proteomic and lipidomic data from the gut-derived EVs with transcriptomic data from their recipient liver cells.

EMBO Scientific Exchange Grants fund research exchanges of up to three months between laboratories in EMBC Member States, Associated Member States or Cooperation Partners. The grant facilitate collaborations with research groups with expertise, techniques, or infrastructure that is unavailable in the applicant’s laboratory. 

From 8^th to 12^th of May, Juan Manuel Falcon Perez, Marc Liébana Jordán and Silvia López, from CIC bioGUNE, and Graça Raposo from Institut Curie, shared their work on extracellular vesicles at the 13th Annual Meeting of the International Extracellular Vesicle Society, that took place in Melbourne, Australia.

The ISEV Annual Meeting is an event for EV Researchers from around the world, and this year's theme, “Discover, Innovate and Understand”, promised to promote innovative discussions and collaborations in the field. Covering a spectrum of topics from fundamental research to clinical applications, this meeting was the epicenter of innovation in extracellular vesicles science.

Between the 8^th and 10^th of May, the SciComPT 2024 meeting took place in Braga, where science communication played a central role. Judite Costa, Liliana Alves and Inês Gomes were present at this meeting, representing the EVCA project, where dissimination is part of their mission.
It was an enlightening event that covered a range of topics with a main focus on the importance of bridging the gap between science and the general public and exploring the most effective communication channels – from social media to podcasts and outreach activities. This meeting not only presented valuable information on pioneering communication strategies, but also facilitated networking opportunities.

In May 2024, the paper titled "Three-Dimensional Hepatocyte Spheroids: Model for Assessing Chemotherapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma" was published in Biomedicines. This study introduces a novel 3D cellular model using hepatocyte spheroids to better represent in vivo conditions for evaluating chemotherapy effects, and provides a robust model for assessing chemotherapy efficacy and specificity in hepatocellular carcinoma, offering insights into drug responses in a 3D cellular environment. Feliz Royo and Juan Manuel Falcon-Perez, our EVCA members from CIC BIOgune, did a great job in this amazing work.

In April 2024, a groundbreaking paper titled "Extracellular vesicles released by keratinocytes regulate melanosome maturation, melanocyte dendricity, and pigment transfer" was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The research underscores the importance of keratinocyte-derived EVs as major contributors to cutaneous pigmentation, offering new insights into the paracrine communication mechanisms underlying skin pigmentation. Gisela D'Angelo and Graça Raposo, EVCA Members from the Institut Curie, contributed for this amazing work that could pave the way for novel approaches in dermatological research and therapies.

It was published in March 2024  "Proteomic Profiling of Plasma- and Gut-Derived Extracellular Vesicles in Obesity" by Pedro Pereira in Nutrients. In this study they have identified alterations to the protein cargo of plasma-derived and gut-derived EVs under obesity, shedding light on the role of these communication agents in its development and highlighting potential biomarkers/pathways for future research. Pedro Pereira is a member of Dra. Rita Machado de Oliveira and Dra. Paula Macedo and in this article there is also the participation of other EVCA members like Dr. Rune Matthiesen, Dra. Ana Carvalho, Estefania Torrejón and Akiko Teshima.

In the IX Congress of Spanish Proteomics Society and 4^th Joint Meeting of Spanish, Portuguese and French Proteomics Societies, Felix Elortza has been elected by colleagues and friends as President of the Spanish Proteomics Society. This congress celebrated its 20^th anniversary this year and took place in Córdoba between 6^th and 9^th  of February.

EVCA Team Wishes Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year

On the 21^st December, Luís Ferraz, a master student from Dr. Paula Macedo and Dr. João Ferreira team defended his master thesis at NOVA Medical School. His jury was composed by EVCA member Dr. Rita Teodoro and Dr. Henrique Girão from Coimbra University.

Pedro Pereira, a master's student from Dr. Paula Macedo and Dr. Rita Oliveira's team defended his master's thesis on 18^th December at NOVA Medical School.

EVCNA has opened a call for the special issue "Extracellular Vesicles at the Crosstalk of Cell Quality Control, Intercellular Communication and Clinical Applications". This special issue has as Guest Editor, Dr. Paulo Pereira from NOVA Medical School, Dr. Henrique Girão from ICBR - Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research and Dra. Susana G. Santos from Instituto de investigação e inovação em Saúde. The call is open until the 31^st of Mars 2024.

In the 6th Edition of the Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus (CEEC) of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), André Marques was awarded in the assistant researcher category.

André Marques belongs to the Lysosomes and Disease Research Group in NOVA Medical School. This call is aimed at at PhD holders with a career in any scientific area who wish to develop their scientific research or technological development activity in Portugal and highlights the quality and impact of the work carried out by researchers.

EVCNA has opened a call for the special issue "Extracellular Vesicles in Metabolic Health and Disease: Mechanisms, Diagnostics, and Therapeutic Strategies". This special issue has as Guest Editor, Dr. Paula Macedo, and Guest Assistant Editor, Dr. Rita Machado Oliveira, both from NOVA Medical School.

Extracellular Vesicles and Circulating Nucleic Acids (EVCNA) is a new journal launched in 2020 with the purpose of reuniting new research data, reviews, and new protocols regarding Extracellular Vesicles and circulating nuclear acids.

The call is open until the 30^th of April 2024.

In the 2023 French Society for Extracellular Vesicles (FSEV) Annual Meeting, Mireia Gomez Duro was awarded with Best Short Talk. Mireia works with Dr. Graça Raposo and Dr. Gisela D'Angelo in the Institut curie and her talk was entitled “Unravelling the role of CD133 in breast cancer-Extracellular Vesicles in invasion and metastasis".

The 23 FSEV was organized by young researchers and held online on November 14^th 2023. 

José Belo, EVCA Team Member, received the Career Award from the Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cell Therapy (SPCE-TC) during the 13th Annual Meeting of the "ETRS & SPCE-TC Joint Meeting" held at the University of Coimbra on October 11-13 of this year.

Akiko Teshima and Luana Macedo from the NOVA Medical School were recently awarded funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) to pursue their PhD Projects. Both projects are related to extracellular vesicles.

Akiko is going to work on "Bariatric Surgery Alters Extracellular Vesicles Composition: A Multi-Omics Perspective" under the supervision of Rita Oliveira and José Silva Nunes (Hospital Curry Cabral).

Luana Macedo is going to work on "The role of extracellular vesicles in the progression of diabetic retinopathy through the gut-liver-retina axis" under the supervision of Rita Oliveira e co-orientação de Sandra Tenreiro e Federico Herrera (FCUL).

Both are from the Metabolic Diseases Research Group (MEDIR) group.

Researchers from CIC bioGUNE in collaboration with researchers from NOVA Medical School (Lisbon) and the Curie Institute (Paris), concluded a three-day practical workshop.

The event, held on September 13^th to 15^th, focused on the application of omics technologies and provided a unique opportunity for participants to gain hands-on experience with state-of-the-art webtools designed for interpreting data generated by omics technologies.

Between June 22 and 23, NOVA Medical School hosted 140 national and international researchers at the 2nd PNEV meeting - National Network of Extracellular Vesicles - to discuss their work in this scientific field.

In the 2^nd meeting of the PORTUGUESE NETWORK ON EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES (PNEV), Gisela D'Angelo from the Institut Curie, partner of EVCA, was awarded Best Selected Talk from Session I with her talk “Role of CD133-extracellular vesicles in breast cancer aggressiveness". João Ferreira from NOVA Medical School was awarded with Best Flash Talk entitled "LAMP2A regulates the loading of proteins into exosomes”.

The 2^nd meeting of the PNEV  occurred between 22^nd and 23^rd June 2023 at NOVA Medical School, Lisbon.

During the The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) 2023 Annual Meeting, hosted in Seattle, Washington, from 17th-21^st of May, researcher Juan Manuel Falcón has been recognized by his work about standardization and metabolomic profiling of extracellular vesicles (EVs).

Rune Matthiesen and Paulo Pereira coordinate the European project "EVCA: Diagnostic and Advanced Therapeutics based on Extracellular Vesicles," which was awarded approximately one and a half million euros in the 2020 European Twinning Competition.